The ministers, meeting to prepare for the 29-30 March summit in Damascus, held a rare session on ways to heal the rift among Arab countries and agreed to ask their leaders to discuss the issue, they said.

"The brainstorming session was important because we discussed our joint experiences in Arab division and the harm it does," said Arab League chief Amr Moussa, who was charged with preparing proposals for ways to heal the rifts.

"There was a very calm discussion, respectful and cordial," Moussa told reporters.

Tension between Saudi Arabia and Syria over Lebanon has boiled over in the run-up to the summit.

Lebanon and Washington's three closest Arab allies Saudi King Abdullah, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Jordan's King Abdullah will not attend in protest against what they consider Syrian meddling in its neighbour's affairs.

Jordanian officials said the monarch would not attend but could send a senior official to represent him, unlike Riyadh and Cairo who are sending junior representatives.

Foreign ministers from Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Lebanon were not present at the meeting.

Syria's foreign minister called on Saudi Arabia on Thursday to use its influence toward solving Lebanon's political crisis, as Arab ministers met ahead of a Damascus summit snubbed by several regional leaders, who blame Syria for the problem.

"Saudi Arabia must use its influence over the majority in Lebanon to help find a solution," Muallem told foreign ministers from the 22-member Arab League, gathering to prepare for the two-day summit.

"The Syrian efforts alone are not enough. The Arab parties that are friendly with and have influence in Lebanon must exert efforts," he said.

Syria's permanent representative to the Arab League, Yussef al-Ahmad, said that because Lebanon has decided to boycott the summit, the foreign ministers would adopt a previous agreement on the crisis but not discuss it in detail.

"The Syrian president (Bashar Assad) had intended to discuss the situation in Lebanon in full detail had Lebanon been present," Ahmed told reporters on the sidelines of the foreign ministers meeting.

"Due to Lebanon's absence, the Arab foreign ministers have decided to adopt the same statement decided in Cairo three weeks ago which calls for supporting Lebanon as well as the Arab initiative on Lebanon," he said.

The summit will also reiterate its commitment to an Arab land-for-peace proposal to Israel first made to the Jewish state at a Beirut summit in 2002. Reports in the Arab press had earlier said that Syria could push for revising the offer.

“We are for a just and comprehensive peace and the principle of land for peace, but we are certain Israel, which is backed by the United States, does not have the political will to make peace,” Muallem said. “Therefore, we support what came out of our meeting in Cairo, which is to study Arab options for peace,” Muallem said.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said yesterday that he would reject a plan to withdraw the peace initiative. “Our attitude has always been that this plan should remain as it is and that we should defend it and fight for it because it is an expansive initiative and the other side (Israel) should accept it,” Abbas told reporters in Amman after meeting Jordan’s King Abdallah.

He added that his talks with King Abdallah focused on “the Arab Summit and what is in store after the summit.”

Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa also talked about the possibility of withdrawing the Arab peace blueprint if Israel continued to ignore it. An Amman-based coalition of 130 Arab political parties has also urged the summit to “withdraw” the initiative.

Moussa said in an opening speech to foreign ministers that Arab leaders would also focus on the stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace. He added that Arab leaders are unhappy with the pace of talks following the US-sponsored peace conference held in Annapolis last year.

Despite the low-level representation from key Arab countries, the official Syrian press said the summit would be a success.

“It is enough for the Arab summit in Damascus that the American ghost is banished... It is enough that for the first time all its decisions and agreements will be free of the American virus,” state-owned daily Ath-Thawra wrote in an editorial.

However, some commentators argued that the absence of key Arab leaders from this annual event could only be interpreted as a political indictment of the host country over its policies, especially in Lebanon.